Craftey + Bossy Brushstrokes: A Hand-lettered Freebie!

We’ve teamed up with Arlena fromBossyBrushstrokes.comagain to bring you another one of her amazing original hand-lettered designs to use in your projects for free!

When Alrena shared this darling design with us, we knew it would be perfect on a canvas! We decided on using the vinyl stenciling technique for this project and are in love with our new custom piece of art!. Want to give it a try? Keep reading!

You’ll need:

A canvas (we used an 8x10” canvas, but you could make this as big or small as you’d like!)

Acrylic paint in whatever colors you’d like to use for your canvas and white

Cutting machine (we used a Cricut Maker for this project)

Removable adhesive vinyl – we choose Oracal 631 in white (you can use whatever color of removable vinyl you happen to have – you will be peeling this off so it won’t be part of the final project)

Step 1: Prep your CanvasGive your entire canvas a once over with the white paint. The paint gives your canvas a smoother surface for the vinyl to stick to. Allow the paint to fully dry while you cut your design.

Step 3: Cutting Stick your vinyl to your mat and press the GO button on your machine to begin cutting. We opted for a light grip mat for this project.

Step 4: WeedingOnce your machine is done cutting, remove the sheet of vinyl from your mat and cut away the area with your design. Use your weeding tool to weed away the negative areas.

Step 5: Transfer your Design

Cut a piece of transfer tape to fit over the weeded design and use your scraper to burnish over the design until it has completely adhered to the transfer tape. Peel the transfer tape off of the vinyl backing and apply the design to your canvas. Burnish over the design a few more times to ensure it sticks strongly to the canvas.

Step 6: Paint your Canvas

This step is *crucial* to making sure you have clean lines once you remove your stencil! Paint over the entire canvas, including the stencil, with the white paint. This seals the edges of the vinyl so that you don’t get any bleeds under your stencil when you paint over it with your color. Let it dry completely.

Step 7: Paint your Canvas (again!)

Once your second coat of white paint has dried, you’re ready to add some color! We did a purple-y ombre look on our canvas but the sky is the limit here – do whatever makes you happy

Step 8: Remove your Vinyl Stencil and Enjoy!

While your paint is still wet, carefully remove your vinyl stencil using tweezers and that’s it – you’re done!

Arlena does absolutely beautiful work that is just begging to be turned in to a cut file and used on your totes, shirts, mugs, and canvases. She created this design especially for the Craftey community and we are so excited to share it with you! Download the free ready-to-use SVG cut file and get Craftey!